Korg Kronos Vs Mainstage

[ssff]

Ok, So I recently got a place in a Band touring the country, 5 gigs a week.

Great gig and Im delighted. However Im concerned. I run Mainstage on my macbook pro. I need this becuase the gig is very modern dance type music. Literally hundreds of sounds some very difficult to make and often sounds will only poke their head in for a short stab and never be seen again for the gig. The mainstage setup is great for doing this gig however Im concerned about whether it will stand up to continuous gigging. It has glitched before, but never crashed.

My question is, Is the korg Kronos as flexable as Mainstage. Can you essentially programme a different sound on every key for example? is it hard to move osicilators and oatch them in evey which way like in mainstage.

Does anyone recommend other keyboards.

I have tried the fantom x8 and I dont want it. Its very user unfriendly I think and IMO the sounds aint as good as Logics. (and NI).

I also tried the Motif xf8 and while I didnt spend long at it none of the sounds jumped out at me....

 

[Oyst3h]

There's a (long but) interesting thread on using Mainstage live here

 

[Gabriel]

I used the Kronos on a gig recently, and I have to say while it isn't as user friendly as Mainstage, it is a complete monster. In my opinion it blows everything out of the water. The editing is endless but the amount of pages you can go through and editable parameters can be a bit intimidating.

I used it on a stadium gig and the sounds it produced were in my opinion perfect for a big live situation. I think it would probably quite good for the kind of stuff you're doing, especially with the 'Set List' function it has. You can have 16,000 slots and transfer from one to another without hearing effect changes on the new patch. Probably ideal for the kind of stuff you're doing. So intuitive too. Just touch the sound you want when ever you want it and play, then switch to another.

I'd go and have a play on one, but make sure you have a good couple of hours to test it out. They're expensive, but personally I think it will be way more stable than Mainstage and will pack more of a punch, and will be easier to turn up to a gig with. Just turn it on and your'e away, no wiring up laptops etc.

 

[KeysDude]

I think the Kronos will certainly be more resilient than a software based rig. I know which one I'd put my faith in

 

[Dphil]

I agree with KeysDude about the resiliency. I replaced my Mainstage/Mac rig with the Kronos a few weeks ago for that very reason. I'm still having withdrawals, but the Kronos is the next best thing I have found to Mainstage's ability to blend lots of sounds on the fly without losing voices. I even replaced my Hammond and Leslie! I keep telling myself that 95% of the listeners can't tell the difference. The best thing is the ease of setup and tear down... remarkable! Each day I tweak the sounds just a bit more and am amazed at what I am learning along the way. If you get a Kronos make sure and get one with a Serial No. over 3000. A lot of their earlier models had keybed/contact issues. It took me 4 units to find out the hard way, but Korg made it right and all is well now.

 

[KeysDude]

Maybe one thing overlooked here is the Muse Receptor rack (http://www.museresearch.com/news/index.php?id=105)
and other Plugin Host hardware devices that are similar. Definately a viable resilient alternative solution to the PC/MAC rig and cheaper that a Kronos or similar hardware keyboard workstation. Lots of Pro's use them now and if I had the money and was gigging, I would certainly be feeling the water with this option.

 

[ssff]

Ok. So i went with a kronos. I was delighted with it, beautiful to play (and I got a serial number in the mid 3000s) It is probably the best workstation out there, I had a fantom g8 before and it doesnt come close to the kronos. However there is some things that it just cannot do that mainstage can. Like bussing channels back internally to trigger sidechains. and a few other things. So I ended up using the kronos linked to the mac using the kronos as an I/O. IM quite happy with this only one usb lead from the laptop, have the stability of the kronos from most of my sounds and I can do the weird stuff on the mac. SIMPLES

 

[goz211]

Good luck on your new musical adventure - and to life on the road.

 

[ssff]

Last night i just found out how to bus stuff to sidechains so srcap that part of my comment

 

[Scradley1960]

Can I ask how you like the key action on the Korg? I have been looking at Korg, Nord, Yamaha and Kurzweil stage pianos/workstations for live use. I heard some folks didn't care that much for the action. Can I get your opinion? or any others'?

 

[CowboyNQ]

My opinion - the 73 and 88 Key Kronos has an excellent action. It's the same as used in the SV-1. Best if you can try it out yourself though as these things are subjective.

 

[bennyray]

My opinion - the 73 and 88 Key Kronos has an excellent action. It's the same as used in the SV-1. Best if you can try it out yourself though as these things are subjective.

I am a new member and i love the Kronos I had one for about a year and just recently got the K2 88 and its amazing.